


When Pigs Fly

by tuppenny



Category: Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: F/M, Fluff, rating for one brief innuendo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-11
Updated: 2018-03-11
Packaged: 2019-03-29 19:54:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13934157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tuppenny/pseuds/tuppenny
Summary: Game night at the Kellys'.Takes place between Chapters 4 and 5 of myBundle of Joyfic.For Grace & Anna, because they asked.





	When Pigs Fly

**Author's Note:**

  * For [gracedameron](https://archiveofourown.org/users/gracedameron/gifts), [passionslipsaway](https://archiveofourown.org/users/passionslipsaway/gifts).



**August 1908**  

Davey unbuttoned the top three buttons of his shirt as he walked, and then he gave in further and rolled up his sleeves. He was off campus now, so he figured it was okay to do that—this far into Lower Manhattan, there was very little chance that he would bump into someone who would see him and think he was dressed in a manner entirely unbefitting a law student. Besides, it was hot. He shifted the small chess set he was carrying in his sweaty hands and sighed as he listened to the pieces rattle about. He wasn’t sure why he’d brought it, honestly; the Kellys had been hosting a monthly game night ever since Jack’s marriage to Kath, sort of as a substitute for all of the time that Jack used to spend hanging about at the Lodging House and now spent with his wife, and not once in all of those years had anyone agreed to play chess with Davey.

He brought the chess set along for appearances, he supposed. No one ever showed up to these things empty-handed, no matter how often Kath insisted that they could, and he certainly couldn’t afford to bring food every month. Besides, he knew how much the other boys liked to tease him about his ‘boring math game.’ He’d tried to sweeten the deal by telling them it was like the fights between newsie boroughs, that you were setting up a series of strategic skirmishes to take over someone else’s turf, but no one bit. And they never would. 

He loved the newsies, he loved the brotherhood he’d unwittingly stumbled into by luck and timing and the series of magical coincidences that led the charismatic Jack Kelly to take more than a half a second’s notice of him, but they were definitely not the sort of people who would ever play chess with him. Maybe one of them would marry someone who would, though? Bring someone new into the fold, someone who liked cerebral games? He snorted and raised his hand to knock on Jack and Kath’s apartment door. _Yeah, and pigs might fly_.

“It’s unlocked!” Jack called from inside the apartment, and Davey entered to see newsies (well, mostly former newsies, now) spilling out of the kitchen and mingling in the hallway and slipping in and out of the living room, where he could hear Crutchie separating the boys into teams for charades. 

“I said no, Race!” … “Whadd’ya mean, ‘why not’? You knows full well why not!” A pause, and then: “If I say it will ya stop botherin’ me about it?” … “Okay, fine: You an’ Spot always guesses each other’s words faster’n anybody else, an’ it ain’t fair.” A gruff chuckle that sounded like Spot, a yelp that was probably Race, and then: “No, I ain’t apologizin’! It serves you right, accusin’ me of bein’ partial! ‘Course I ain’t puttin’ Rosie ‘n me on the same team, Racer. We’d do even better’n you an’ your Brooklyn boy, an’…” Davey missed the next bit, but it wasn’t long before Crutchie raised his voice again, saying, “Don’t you test me, Racetrack Higgins! I swears, if you…” 

Davey laughed to himself and clapped boys on the back as he made his way to the kitchen, where he knew he’d find Jack putting the finishing touches on heaping platters of fruit and cheese and meat and bread. “Heya, Jack.”

“Davey!” Jack exclaimed, raising his head to locate his friend. “Great ta see ya, kid! Glad you could make it this month.” 

“You told me you’d soak me if I missed it,” Davey said wryly, raising an eyebrow.

Jack winked and popped a slice of turkey breast into his mouth. “Hey, unless you got witnesses, ain’t no one gonna believe that tall tale. I’d never say somethin’ like that, I’m far too respectable nowadays.”

Davey rolled his eyes. “Want a hand with those trays?”

“Thanks,” Jack said, handing a glass platter over to Davey, who wedged his chess set under his arm so as to grip the plate with both hands. “Hope springs eternal, I see,” Jack joked, with a nod to the chess set.

“Mhmm,” Davey said, taking a cube of cheese off the plate he was holding and chewing slowly. “Hey, that’s good. Where’d you get it?” 

Jack shrugged. “Joe brought it by. He always stops by after work on the first Friday of the month with enough food to feed an army, says his secretary ordered too much for the board meetin’ or somethin’.” He hooked his foot around a kitchen chair to scoot it out of the way as he maneuvered through the crowded kitchen, a platter in each hand. “That’s total hooey, o’ course, an’ I know he knows I know it, but he keeps it up.”

Jack lifted his arms up to navigate through the press in the hallway a little bit better. “It’s kinda nice, actually—Ace told him about our Saturday game night once, I think just in passing, an’ ever since then, well—” Jack nodded at the food in his and David’s hands. They pushed their way into the living room and set the plates down on the coffee table.

“Anyway,” Jack said, hefting a pile of newspapers and magazines off the end of the table and moving them to an overflowing bookshelf in the corner, “It’s a nice gesture. An’ sometimes he stays for dinner when he brings stuff by, too, which is good.”

Davey didn’t even need to find the words to respond to that—all he had to do was give Jack a skeptical look. Jack hunched his shoulders slightly and held up his hands, saying, “Okay, fine. But it makes Ace happy, an’ _that’s_ good, at least.”

“What makes me happy?” Katherine asked, sweeping in behind Jack to hug his waist and press a quick kiss just below his ear. 

“I do,” Jack said with a smirk, turning in her arms to pull her in close. Davey watched him whisper something in Katherine’s ear that caused her to turn red and smile, nodding as she hid her face in his chest.

Davey stood awkwardly by and felt his heart twinge as Jack rubbed Katherine’s back and then gave her a brief kiss on the top of her head. _Knock it off, David. They’re your favorite couple. You_ love _them_. _Stop being such a dumkop._ Jack bent to whisper to Katherine again and this time she giggled, pushing herself away from him and batting his arm lightly. “Impossible boy.”

Jack turned back to Davey with a grin. “So, Davey-boy, how’re those dates goin’?”

Davey forced a laugh and tugged one of his sleeves down, only to roll it right back up again. “You know I’m working full-time this summer _and_ taking night classes, right?”

Jack cocked his head. “So?”

Davey crossed his arms. “So? So when am I supposed to find time to follow up with any of those girls, huh?”

Jack seemed genuinely confused. “I had a job an’ went ta art school an’ was married ta Kath,” he pointed out.

Davey grimaced. “True. Well.” He shrugged. “I guess I just don’t care about any of those girls as much as you care about Kath.” 

“Fair,” Jack said solemnly. “It’s hard ta top Kath.” Davey nodded seriously, but Jack blinked, snickered, and then leaned over to say in a low voice, “Partly ‘cause she’d rather top me, if ya know what I mean.”

Davey blushed scarlet and socked Jack in the shoulder. “Oh my _gosh_ , Jack, I did _not_ want to know that!”

Jack guffawed, shoved Davey back, and went back to the kitchen to bring out the rest of the food. Davey shook his head to distract himself and went to claim a chair for the evening. Usually there were enough seats, but tonight the place was packed. It seemed like everyone from the strike days was here tonight, even the newsies he’d never gotten to know all that well—he spotted Mike hovering by the plate of assorted cookies that Katherine had bought that afternoon, he had seen Tommy Boy joshing around with Smalls on the way in, and he was pretty sure that the guy doing jumping jacks in the hallway was… Hotshot? Was that his name? Something like that. Had Jack threatened to soak _everyone_ who didn’t show up? 

Davey waved his hand and whistled in order to catch Crutchie’s attention over all the commotion. “Is it just me, or are there a lot more people here tonight?”

Crutchie raised his hands in a helpless gesture. “They’s so many people in here, I can hardly hear myself think!”

Kath waltzed in, clutching the final two trays of food. “Everybody quiet!” She yelled. No one paid any attention, of course, but Katherine wasn’t fazed; she hadn’t actually expected that to work, anyway. So, as soon as she placed the food down on the only bare end table left in the living room and climbed up onto the coffee table, she belted out a high soprano note that shocked everyone else into silence, regardless of where they were in the apartment. She grinned, winked at Davey, and said, “Before we get started tonight, Jack and I have an announcement we’d like to make. Jack, darling, where are you?”

“Here!” Jack called, herding boys out of the kitchen and hallway and shepherding them into the living room. “ ‘Scuse me, fellas, I just gotta… yup… thanks…” He squeezed in next to Katherine on top of the coffee table, making sure to place his feet well clear of the platters of food, and wrapped his arm around her waist, grinning broadly all the while. 

“Well, c’mon, then! What’s goin’ on?” Finch called from the back of the room. “I ain’t got all night, Kelly.”

“Which Kelly?” Jack quipped.

Finch snapped the band of his slingshot against his wrist. “Either Kelly. Both Kellys!” Jack and Kath exchanged a playful look with each other, and Finch groaned. “Ugh, stop stallin’! I bet Elmer that me’n Specs’d beat him ‘n Albert in whist, an’ I’d appreciate it if ya’d let me get to it!”

“Well, Jackie, you heard the man,” Katherine said, shoving him slightly. “Far be it from us to keep Finch from his game of whist.”

“Okay, then,” Jack said, practically vibrating with excitement. “Here goes.” He cleared his throat grandly and announced, “Ladies an’ gentlemen, come March they’s gonna be one more Kelly in the family. Katherine’s pregnant!” 

There was an immediate surge of noise from the assembly in the Kellys’ apartment as everyone began whooping and whistling and cheering. Hats flew into the air as Jack yelled, tossed his own cap, and jumped off the coffee table into the melee. Davey found himself hooting and hollering with all the rest, hugging everyone in sight and beaming just as brightly as if the joyful news were his own. 

“Jackie!” He gasped, as the swell of people pressed him close to his friend. “Congratulations!”

Jack pulled Davey in for a massive hug and ruffled his hair affectionately. “Thanks, Dave. You up for bein’ an uncle to a Kelly kid?” 

Davey slapped Jack on the back and laughed. “You better believe it, Jackie Boy! I can’t wait to meet this kiddo. I’m gonna spoil ‘em rotten, I promise.” Jack grinned, and Davey gave Jack a mischievous wink.  “Oh, just you wait—I’m gonna teach ‘em all the best Yiddish slang, buy 'em all the biggest books, an’ make sure they know all the best lawyer arguments to outsmart you and Kath.” 

“Perfect,” Jack said, punching Davey in the shoulder. Then he grabbed that same shoulder and squeezed tightly. “An’ hey, Davey—maybe you’d, uh…” Jack scratched his scalp and ventured, “Maybe if ya have time, you’d … you’d teach this kid of mine how ta play chess, too?”

Davey melted. “It’d be my pleasure, Jack.”

**Author's Note:**

> Dumkop = Yiddish for dummy
> 
> Okay I've had all but the last 300 words written for over a month now, so that's why this is up so quickly after the end of my last story. I really need to do actual work, so I'm not letting myself get back to the full Bundle of Joy fic until I do, but... have this in the meantime.


End file.
